Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, left, with El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, center right, and other sheriffs standing behind him, speaks during a news conference at which he announced that 54 Colorado sheriffs are filing a federal civil lawsuit against two gun control bills passed by the Colorado Legislature, in Denver May 17. Among other claims, the group of sheriffs and others joining the suit argue that the laws violate the 2nd and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. (Brennan Linsley, Associated Press)

John B. Cooke

Re: “Sheriff gun-laws lawsuit: How many people in Colorado do they represent, anyway?” May 17 blog post by Curtis Hubbard.

Gun control advocate and former Denver Post editorial page editor Curtis Hubbard attempted to trivialize 55 of 62 elected county sheriffs’ lawsuit against the state over unconstitutional gun control bills. Instead, he laid bare his ignorance of the difference between sheriffs and chiefs of police along with his prejudice against firearms.

Hubbard suggested that sheriffs represent an insignificant portion of the Colorado population because they mostly patrol unincorporated areas, while chiefs of police, whose association supported the gun control bills, “represent” more heavily populated incorporated areas. In Hubbard’s mind, the chiefs’ opinion is more relevant.

Obviously, Hubbard doesn’t understand the difference between sheriffs and police chiefs. First, sheriffs are the county’s chief law enforcement officers, and all residents vote for their sheriff except in Denver and Broomfield. In contrast, chiefs of police are appointed and often “represent” the views of their boss, usually a mayor or city manager.Read more…

It’s probably no surprise that David Sirota disagrees with a Denver Post editorial opposing preferences – or subsidies, if you like – to businesses seeking state contracts that can certify at least 90 percent of their workers live in Colorado. But what is it about the Am 760 talker that prevents him from having a civil dispute even on an issue as relatively mundane and non-incendiary as this?

On his show this morning, Sirota claimed the Post editorial (which I had no hand in) provided a “jump the shark moment” in which the local newspaper declared “we no longer care about the local economy.” The paper was not merely misguided regarding the bill, you see. It was morally bankrupt.

Hearing this tirade, you might suppose Sirota is a marginalized leftist snubbed by the mainstream media who is nursing a grudge. But besides his morning talk show, he also has a column published regularly in … The Denver Post, and so deals with the very editors he insists don’t care about the local economy.

The false notion that the doctrine of adverse possession is rarely used has not been my experience. I personally have been involved in three of these actions, with two wins and one loss.

After spending too much time and money in the courts, I have formed the opinion that this is an outdated law and should be eliminated. It may have had relevance when this was the Wild West and good surveys were not the rule. Today a buyer should know exactly what he is purchasing and a land owner should know exactly what he owns. Read more…

So, one family “prays” for a miracle to save their home, and lo and behold, “those prayers were answered” (according to The Post) when a $9 million Lotto jackpot fell into their lap.

Millions of children die every year from famine and disease; wars (both justified and unjustified) take the lives of countless innocent civilians; natural disasters wipe entire villages off the map and sweep tens of thousands to a watery grave every year; worldwide sectarian conflicts threaten to put the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation; and all the while, billions of prayers from the starving, the oppressed, the unfortunate and disease-ridden are lofted skyward, only to have them fall back to Earth with a resounding, unanswered thud. Read more…

As the CEO of the state’s largest dental insurance company, I was pleased to see the problem concerning the dentally uninsured given prominent coverage on the front page of The Denver Post. With the tremendous escalation in the cost of medical coverage over the last several years, it is easy to forget the importance of making dental care affordable and accessible to Coloradans. Read more…

I’m a veteran of 44 years in the beverage alcohol industry, so I feel I know where of I speak. As far as Sunday openings, has anyone ever heard of a day off?

I’d say the average liquor store is open 13 hours a day, six days a week, totaling 78 or so hours per week. In many cases, particularly in smaller, family-operated stores, these hours are usually divided between husband, wife and possibly one other employee. If they were open on Sunday, where would they fit any family time? Read more…

Requiring proof of citizenship as a precursor to voter
registration is a solution to a non-existent problem.
As a practical matter it would likely serve to
increase the number of non-voting citizens after they
learn they have to find or request their birth
certificate just to register. Some will decide it’s
not worth the trouble. Inconvenience results in
non-voting.

The Denver Post editorial raises several questions:
How long has the current law been as it is? If voter
fraud by unauthorized immigrants was not a problem
before, how is it a problem now? The editors provide
no evidence that it’s a problem at all, just a
hypothetical: “Well, what if?”

El Paso County Clerk Bob Balink disingenuously equates
the seeking of essential government services with
voting. Clearly, medical care and education are needs
that immigrants cannot and should not ignore, whereas
voting is not an essential need, and there is no
reasonable expectation that anyone’s vote will make a
difference in her life. Moreover, the unauthorized
immigrant puts herself at risk by attempting to vote
for it’s against the law. The pursuit of medical care
is not.

Is Balink, or any election official, prohibited by
current law from checking citizenship if they have
reason to believe someone is attempting voter fraud?
Unlikely. So it seems this issue is really about the
registration process. Making people show citizenship
as a universal requirement for registration will only
keep some legitimate voters away from the polls–a
real(not hypothetical)problem.

It appears the proposed bill by Senate Minority Leader
McElhany is driven more by the desire to make a
political statement and less by actual concerns over
voter fraud.

So what is so new about Gov. Bill Ritter’s recognition of a union for state employees? When I worked at the Colorado State Hospital in Pueblo in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, many of the employees chose to join the union, which did talk with the administration about matters of mutual concern. Read more…

David Harsanyi’s flippant column does The Denver Post and Coloradans a huge disservice.

“I don’t want Democrats teaching my children global warming hysteria,” he writes, noting he and his peers of “knuckle-dragging troglodytes” are of the opinion that global warming’s danger is still unsettled. Read more…

Vincent Carroll is The Denver Post's editorial page editor. He has been writing commentary on politics and public policy in Colorado since 1982 and was originally with the Rocky Mountain News, where he was also editor of the editorial pages until that newspaper gave up the ghost in 2009.

Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 150 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address, day and evening phone numbers, and may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.

To reach the Denver Post editorial page by phone: 303-954-1331

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